In every paese, there is an energy filled with the spirit of young & old paesani Every paese has its old palazzi, a Chiesa Madre held together by the tenacity of the parish priest. In every paese, children run to catechism bounding, yelling and jumping as youthful innocence and impatience do. Every paese has…
Continue reading ➞ Poetry from Sicily: In Ogni Paese
What is Sicily to me? There are hundreds of Sicilies. An island of hundred faces. like the tale of Medusa who becomes more elaborate at every retelling. Singing like Rosa Balistreri with an emotional strength pouring out the tears in an overflowing stream. A song of Sicily’s poverty, her beauty, with her insatiable energy, the…
Continue reading ➞ My Sicily: a poem
The mountainous landscape in Sicily persistently challenges me. The boundless slopes disorient me; they dominate the horizon. When I go hiking down steep hillsides, I am constantly holding on for dear life, grappling white-knuckled onto the flimsiest blade of grass in my reach. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve sprained my ankles or fallen’…
Continue reading ➞ Words from Sicily: Disorientation
My grandparent's gardens are gone like so many poetic laments about lost paradises nothing of their cultivated land where father, son, mother and daughter lived the flowering trees are a memory recalled by a dying generation no more sustenance or song only the shadows of a once fertile island Ancient olive groves gradually enveloped by…
Continue reading ➞ Poetry inspired by Sicily: A place of elephants, lions and bears
I am constantly sitting down and planning out trips to do through Sicily. Often I don’t do everything on my list as I run out of money but I am generally happy if I do one of the trips every year as they are based on my experiences living here on the island. Sicily is…
Continue reading ➞ Things to do in Sicily
1) Don’t complain too much So it really doesn’t matter if you can’t track down your favorite candy bar or if they do things differently here. Italy is an old country so things are kinda slow, it will be dusty and a little dirty but that’s to be expected. Nothing is going to be…
Continue reading ➞ 5 easy steps to becoming a good tourist in Italy
Yes, there is a difference between Northern and Southern Italy; in fact, it took a major political and social movement to merge the different states of the Italian peninsula in the nineteenth century. The process began with the Congress of Vienna at the end of Napoleon’s reign in 1815 and continued with various…
Continue reading ➞ North verses South in Italy: from stereotypes to rampant individualism
My friends and family think I am totally insane to be living my life in Italy, they are waiting for me to come to my senses and move back to Australia, like I’ve been playing around for the past decade of my life. The truth is it’s been more than chasing a dream, I’m not…
Continue reading ➞ Leading an authentic life in Sicily
November is a sombre time in Sicily, traditionally it’s not all jack o lanterns and candy rather its about taking flowers to the cemetery and lighting artificial lights instead of candles in memory of the dead. All souls and dearly held saints are prayed for in religious services in the Roman Catholic church and the…
Continue reading ➞ Flowers and lights for our ancestors
The beginning of Autumn in Sicily can be abrupt. The gradual changes from one season to the next are now a thing of the past, there are no more slightly shortening days or time for the leaves to go from greens, yellows, warm rusty reds or browns, now the fall begins with heavy rains and…
Continue reading ➞ Fall in Sicily
Venero Armanno's trio of Sicilian themed novels is a significant accomplishment, written masterfully by the son of Sicilian migrants with a powerful dedication to Sicily. The volcano is a novel of emotion, passion and fire set in the shadowlands around Etna and tells us of the epic journey of Emilio Aquila. The book…
Continue reading ➞ A journey to the Volcano with Venero Armanno
Isn’t it amazing the surprises life has in stall for us? At times I’m a little overwhelmed by the strange new directions this journey has pulled me through some painful, others colourful, adventurous but all unexpected. I imagined myself at this stage working as a journalist in some t.v or radio station with a novel…
Continue reading ➞ Missing my Nonno
One really can’t talk about Sicily without mentioning the Mt Etna volcano, here are some short pieces I’ve written about this strange monster that dominates this island, following along on the theme of earthquakes from yesterday. Etna is a real monster, a living breathing part of the Sicilian landscape. Its sixty by forty kilometre…
Continue reading ➞ On the theme of Mt Etna
Italy has always been a place susceptible to earthquakes Sicily more so than other regions. I’ve never felt anything, that is until this summer when the Mt Etna volcano has been erupting. Etna has always been relatively active and is quite far away from us towards Catania. In the past, we’ve breathed in…
You must be logged in to post a comment.